There’s no doubt that Walt Disney World can throw an awesome party! These exclusive hard-tickets events, like Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom Park offers you the chance at one of a kind experiences you can’t get during regular park hours – holiday snacks, unique character meet and greets, holiday fireworks, shows and parades. But are those experiences worth the extra splurge?
10 Reasons Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is Worth the Cost
1. Get in early with the party ticket
2. Special character meet & greets and unique photo ops
3. Ride attractions with little wait
4. Complimentary holiday goodies
5. Holiday dance parties
6. A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas
7. Unique holiday stage shows and castle lighting
8. Holiday Wishes Fireworks
9. Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade
10. Snow on Main Street, USA
I adore Christmas and Walt Disney World Resort during the holidays is just magical. Stunning decorations hung from every rooftop, Christmas trees all around and characters in their holiday best – there isn’t another place like it.
And each year, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) gives guests the opportunity to sprinkle on even more holiday cheer, but it comes with a pretty hefty price tag. Prices have steadily gone up each year topping out at a whopping $125 for a five-hour special event. Cringe-worthy, I know, but I still believe it’s worth it and here’s why.
1. Get in early with the party ticket
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party officially kicks off at 7 pm, but guests with event tickets can get into Magic Kingdom Park as early as 4 pm on party nights.
And in 2018, select Disney Vacation Club members can get into the park starting at 2 pm. So we skip the regular park ticket for the day of the party and use our MVMCP ticket for a full seven hours in the Magic Kingdom! That extra couple of hours goes a long way helping me justify the cost of party tickets.
Make the most out of your time with these essential tips for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party!
2. Special character meet & greets and unique photo ops
I’m not usually big on character photos, but at the Christmas party, it’s a different story. These aren’t your run of the mill character meet & greets! Disney Princesses posing with their princes, Flynn Rider with a smolder that makes your toes curl, and the Fab 5 dressed to the nines – you’ll find them all at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Also, currently a meet and greet with Moana or Jack Skellington as Sandy Claws can only be found at Walt Disney World during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
But the photo fun doesn’t stop there. There are exclusive photo opportunities throughout the Magic Kingdom including special magic shots. These photos ops are just screaming Christmas card!
3. Ride attractions with little wait
No one knows precisely how many tickets are sold to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, but it’s a fraction of daily attendance. You know what that means – short wait times for top attractions!
Select rides and attractions are open during the holiday party and the list of opened rides seems to grow each year. Tomorrowland favorites like Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear‘s Space Ranger Spin or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or Splash Mountain in Frontierland — all with little to no wait times.
We love to skip the first Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade and head to Fantasyland to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan‘s Flight. It’s such a treat to skip the 60+ minute waits.
4. Complimentary holiday goodies
Free is a word that always grabs my attention. Add that word in front of snacks and you just won this mama’s heart! No more “I’m hungry” or ” I want a snack.” Have at it kids – it’s FREE!
Cookies and hot chocolate have been part of the complimentary fare for as long as I can remember. But last year Disney stepped up their game adding more variety to the menu! The new snacks and drinks include a Peppermint Crunch Cookie, Nesquik Chocolate Milk, Eggnog, Sparkling Apple Cider, Sno-Cone, and a Snowman Soft Pretzel.
TravelingMom Tip: The cookies are individually wrapped! So snag a few to snack on in your hotel room or throw them in your park bag for the next day!
In addition to these complimentary treats, they also have some holiday season snacks you can purchase including an Ugly Sweater Brownie or a Holiday Mickey Mouse Cinnamon Roll.
5. Holiday dance parties
There’s always a dance party to be found at these parties. Cosmic Ray‘s Starlight Cafe transforms into Club Tinsel where you can dance the night away with DJ Cane and Chip and Dale. I love to let it loose at the Disney dance parties! All attention is on the cute kids, so uncoordinated little ole me can dance like it’s 1999. And the fact that you get to dance with your favorite Disney characters is such a unique experience.
Club Tinsel can get a little wild when everyone is on the dance floor. If it gets too be a little much for the young ones, head over to Storybook Circus Disney Junior Jingle Jam. They can shake their tail feathers with the Disney Junior gang!
6. A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas
A merry band of revelers has teamed up with Santa Stitch, Buzz, and crowd pleaser, Mike Wazowski to save Christmas. Take on Emperor Zurg, follow Stitch‘s journey as he tries to track down Santa and have a barrel of laughs with Mike Wazowski! The singing and dancing are out of this world and keep the Tomorrowland rockin’ with upbeat Christmas favorites.
7. Unique holiday stage shows and castle lighting
Mickey throws a fabulous holiday party for Minnie, Donald and all his favorite friends at Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration. Music, holiday cheer and fun festivities! You can catch the celebration multiple times throughout the night on the stage in front of Cinderella Castle.
Want to kick off the holiday season with a little magic? At 8:15, A Frozen Holiday Wish takes place on the castle stage. We love to stand on Main Street as Queen Elsa uses her powers to light up the castle with sparkling icicles. This is a show no one wants to miss!
8. Holiday Wishes Fireworks
Everyone was sad when the regular season, Wishes Fireworks Spectacular ended. And while Holiday Wishes isn’t the same show, it still carries on the magic of Disney with a holiday flare.
Blasting into the night sky above Cinderella Castle, Holiday Wishes can be seen from just about anywhere in the Magic Kingdom. My daughter loves to ride Splash Mountain during the fireworks, but my husband and I just love watching them from the back side of the castle in Fantasyland. It’s typically less crowded, has a good view and you don’t lose any of the holiday spirit.
9. Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade
Give me a parade any day of the week and I’m a happy camper! Parades are my jam. And Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade is one of the best. See all your favorite Disney pals plus Santa and his reindeer as they stroll down the parade route bringing joy to all.
There are two showings each party night – 8:30 pm and 11 pm. The first parade is always packed! So we treat it as our grand finale and grab seats in Frontierland for the second showing. It’s a great way to relax and start to unwind after a long party night.
10. Snow on Main Street, USA
There is nothing like in the world that can compare to the magic that surrounds you as the “snow” starts falling on Main Street, USA with Cinderella Castle sparkling in the distance. Instantly, faces all around you light up and the atmosphere changes. That one small moment makes it all worth it and gets everyone in the spirit of the season!
Is Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party right for your family?
If you think you’ll make the most out of it by watching the exclusive shows, parade, fireworks, or unique character meet and greets, then it may be worth it for you. This 40ish mom loves it! If you just want to ride attractions with low wait times – Disney After Hours event is probably more your speed.
Have young children who usually go to bed early and get grumpy as the night goes on? Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party probably isn’t the right fit for your family. Unless of course, they’ll sleep in the stroller and allow you to enjoy the special events. If your kids can do open to close on a regular park day, I say go for it! Let them sleep in, hang out poolside and hit the Magic Kingdom at 4 PM with the early admission. My kids are older and they love everything Christmas, love free snacks and love the parades and shows, so it’s worth it for my family!
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We did our first MVMCP first week in December 2018. I am gutted to say we found it really mediocre with Queues for everything. Our girls had asked to go and even bought the tickets themselves. They were not impressed and wouldn’t do the party again. Holiday Wishes was good but not in the same league as Happily Ever After. We didn’t manage to do any Character meets as the queues were long and we had to get in position for the early parade (Jet lag as we are from the UK). We get why people love it but based on previous year’s reviews it did seem more crowded than previous descriptions (certainly not equivalent to peak crowds don’t get me wrong).
Hi, I was wondering what happens on the non-party days. Do I still get to see the castle lit up or get free cookies or watch the fireworks?
Just looking for info on when the Christmas parade begins to be run during normal admission hours. I know in the past it was one week before christmas that they moved it, but not sure if the popularity of the MVMCP delayed it in 2017. Anyone know?
Also – we were there the second week of december in 2017 – walked about the MK before the party was to start and were astounded by the number of adults hiding alcohol in their ‘water’ bottles. I understand security missing a couple of folk, but we came across 2 large groups of adults flat out drunk at 5pm with the cast members ignoring them. I used to be a barkeep – I know drunk.
We went 12/1 2017 and it was sold out. The party starts an hour later at 7 PM, so as to give regular day park guest time to leave. Even though this event was sold out online, Disney town hall was still selling tickets to any guess leaving the park that wanted to stay. The lines started to form at the free food lines at 5:30 PM. I believe 4 places offered the free stuff. Spots for the 8:30 PM parade were being taken at about 6:30 PM. I believe party guess were let in early or had day passes but the park was very packed on Friday night on 12/1 for the party. Long lines and crowed conditions were the theme of the night. Our friends had passes for Tuesday night on 12/5 which was also sold out and just as busy. Remember the good old days when the parades and electric light shows were all included every night of the year with no $100 upcharge. I guess if people keep paying for these special events, Disney will keep them in play. We would never go again due to the lines and the crowds.
IMHO total waste of money. In most instances you have already paid admission with your stay. Thne 90.00 for some high cal sugar snacks and a parade. No way. Maybe 20.00 if you already have a pass ok.
This is a pure greed money grab
We just went last night and honestly if you have the extra cash, I have to say it is worth the price. We have have 3 children under 7 and they stay up late so that was not a problem for us. We stayed until the party was over. The main focus for us was the magical parade which we watched under the huge Christmas tree looking down main street and they had it snow almost an hour prior to the parade. The Mickey show in front of the castle was also amazing which we watched as we were leaving. The price for us was the memories and the amazing pictures of the kids all dressed up dancing in the snow. I can see how it could not work for many families, but for us, the parade itself was worth it.
I agree, if your children can stay up late, then take them! I always feel a little sad when people are leaving by 9, because everyone’s tired. But then again, those few hours could be worth it to them, like you said for the memories and pictures!
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Glad to hear they are changing up the snacks. When we went in 2014, it was all snickerdoodles and hot chocolate. I love a snickerdoodle, but a few is enough. It also was warm when we went, so the snow cones would be a nice contrast to the hot chocolate.
I love this event though!
I didn’t even think about it being warm! Yeah, snow cones would definitely be better for that!
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